36 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 
To avoid the expense of cutting or grinding, some farmers in order 
to get the hay all eaten have soaked it in water and fed it. This has 
proved very satisfactory where tried. One Oklahoma farmer carried 
his hogs through a winter by feeding them alfalfa leaves soaked in 
hot water for one day and the next day shorts mixed with the 
pulp and water. He feeds much alfalfa hay to his hogs and is very 
successful with them. He puts the last cutting in shock as soon as 
wilted, and thus cures it without bleaching and feeds it to his hogs. 
Another farmer carried his entire herd of hogs through the winter 
by feeding them the pulp of alfalfa hay after soaking it in water over 
night. He also gave them the water to drink. This was all the feed 
they had during the winter, and they were in good flesh in the spring, 
with smooth glossy coats of hair. A Kansas farmer was feeding a 
bunch of 50 fall pigs on corn; during the winter they got off feed 
and were not thrifty. He reduced the corn and gave a ration of two- 
thirds chopped alfalfa hay and one-third corn meal, the two soaked 
together. The hogs began to do better, and a little later he changed 
the ration to one-third alfalfa and two-thirds corn. The results 
were very satisfactory, and the cost of feed was reduced from $15 a 
month on corn to $9 a month on alfalfa and corn. So alfalfa hay, as 
well as pasture, has a very important use on a hog farm. 
WHEAT. 
In northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas fall wheat is a staple 
crop. It is generally seeded from the middle of September to the 
first of October. The seeding is usually 14 to 14 bushels per acre. If 
the ground has been well prepared and the fall is not too dry, this 
will have made a good growth by the time alfalfa pasture is begin- 
ning to fail, along in November. The season here usually remains 
open until Christmas, so that six weeks of very good pasture are 
furnished. Some winters are so open that the wheat remains green 
most of the winter and stock find pasture all winter. The spring 
opens up by the last of February and the wheat gets green again in 
March. By judicious pasturing, not pasturing too heavily or when 
the ground is muddy, much green feed may be had without injury to 
the wheat. The farmers here have taken advantage of this, and 
where they have their wheat fields fenced hog tight they turn the hogs 
from the alfalfa field to the wheat field in November and leave them 
there during the winter unless the wheat gets too short or the ground 
becomes muddy. The hogs remain in the wheat until April and do | 
well with very little grain. At this time they can go back to the 
alfalfa field again. Thus, green pasture is furnished the year round. 
ty. 
